#temperature volatility

If you're a writer, it's your responsibility to chronicle your research wherever and however you can. Some of the information you gather may be of no use; some of the information you gather may be indispensable. The trick, of course, is that you never truly know upon which side of the coin your current interest or query will rest until the moment of truth arrives and you put pen to paper (or digits to keyboard, as it were).

What about neurotoxins? Perhaps you're writing a spy thriller, or a mythical fantasy epic, or a short story about a medieval witch, or a hastily constructed treatise on illiberal democracy gone steadily awry and you feel the need to incorporate a touch of realism to how an individual responds to the interior chaos of succumbing to a nerve agent. What follows here is a quick-and-dirty assessment.

Nerve agents have been written about before, and by more prodigious researchers than I, but the further unfolding of events surrounding the survival of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny offer an important, current lens through which one might ascertain several interesting and important details on this subject. Navalny recently conducted an interview with Der Spiegel; now is a prime opportunity to review the facts.

The nerve agent Novichok is some real nasty stuff: In short, it fudges the human nervous system and blurs every major function of the body until the whole dang thing implodes on itself.

First, the effects of nerve agents, more generally, depends on the amount of the agent applied (and so enters the body). Researchers divide the symptoms into three groups: muscarinic (physiological functions), nicotinic (neuromuscular communication), and central (as in, the central nervous system).

From a short review published in Food and Chemical Toxicology: "Overstimulation of muscarinic cholinergic receptors causes pupils constriction, glandular hypersecretion, urination, defecation, diaphoresis (stress sweating), and gastric emesis (vomiting). Among nicotinic symptoms belong initial defasciculation (prohibition of muscular movement) followed by weakness and flaccid paralysis. Finally, within central nervous system [..] poisoning manifests as irritability, giddiness, fatigue, lethargy, seizures, coma, and mostly fatal respiratory depression (hypoventilation; that is, slow and ineffective breathing)."

Regarding Novichok specifically? Muscle spasms. Fluid that builds up in the lungs. Muscle paralysis. Slowed heart rate. Seizures. Asphyxiation. Organ failure. Flagrant damage to neurotransmitters and causing lasting damage. Notably, scientists assert the nerve agents that served as a prototype for Novichok contained chemical compounds that resemble "the manifestation of snake venom poisoning."

In Navalny's case, the man himself explains to Der Spiegel:

➔ "It's hard to describe because there is nothing to compare it with. Organophosphorus compounds attack your nervous system like a DDos attack attacks the computer -- it's an overload that breaks you. You can no longer concentrate. I can feel that something is wrong. I break out in a cold sweat. I ask Kira beside me for a tissue. Then I say to her: Speak to me. I need to hear a voice -- something's wrong with me. She looks at me like I'm crazy and starts talking."

➔ "I don't understand what is happening to me. The stewards come by with the trolley. I first want to ask them for water, but I then say: No, let me by, I'm going to the bathroom. I wash myself with cold water, sit down and wait and then wash myself again. And then I think: If I don't get out now, I'll never get out. The most important feeling was: You are feeling no pain, but you know you're dying. And I mean, right now, yet nothing hurts. I leave the toilet, turn to the steward -- and instead of asking for help, I say, to my own surprise: I've been poisoned. I'm dying. And then I lay down on the ground in front of him to die. He’s the last thing I see: a face that looks at me with slight astonishment and a light smile. He says: Poisoned? and by that he probably means I was served bad chicken."

➔ "And the last thing I hear, already on the floor is: Do you have heart problems? But my heart doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts. All I know is that I am dying. Then I hear voices growing ever quieter, and a woman calling: Don't leave us! Don't leave us! Then it's over. I know I'm dead. Only later would it turn out that I was wrong."

According to Navalny, the whole episode lasted 30 minutes, from the point where he felt "something was off" until he lost consciousness. All of which sounds absolutely terrifying. That's a long, long time to know you're dying, unable to feel any pain whatsoever, and in no position to do anything about it.

In the end, there are deeper questions related to the manufacture, distribution, ownership/responsibility of, secretive care/maintenance of, and safe disposal of such weapons. And for writers seeking to invent their own variation of some such chemical agent, there yet remain questions about temperature volatility, persistency, moisture stability (resistant or not?), and what form/state the chemical agent takes (e.g., liquid), if you want to get technical. Navalny's case is intriguing in that he's suffered an extraordinarily close call and still possesses the mental faculties to recall and discuss his survival. He jokes about being a guinea pig, but he's not kidding when he notes, "At some point, I will probably be written about in medical journals."

Additional Reading:

ABC. 2020. "Alexei Navalny's Poisoning: What Is Novichok, What Are the Symptoms and Where Does It Come From?" ABC NEWS Australia.

Bidder, B., and C. Esch. 2020. "I Assert That Putin Was Behind the Crime." Der Spiegel International.

Engel, R. 2018. "The Long Arm of the Kremlin." On Assignment with Richard Engel. Video. MSNBC.

Nepovimovaa, E., and K. Kuc. 2018. "Chemical Warfare Agent Novichok - Mini-Review of Available Data." Food and Chemical Toxicology 121:343-350.